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Spaghetti with benefits

A 'super spaghetti' has been developed by Spanish and Italian researchers containing more fibre and proteins that can help to reduce the risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases.

According to results published in the Food Research International journal, new green technologies allow processors to obtain functional flours using the whole cereal grain, thus avoiding waste by products to be produced during the milling process.

Lead project Ana Maria Gomez Caravaca explains that the air classification process allows the division of milling by-products in two different fractions by means of a physical process that doesn't modify the properties of the obtained fractions.

"Comparing the obtained final product with the ones available at the market, we observed that our spaghetti was especially rich in betaglucans. The amount of betaglucans present in our functional spaghetti fulfilled the requirements of the American Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in order to be able to label it as a 'good source of fibre' and 'might lessen the risk of suffering cardiovascular diseases," Gomez Caravaca said.

The study results have demonstrated that the fraction used in the elaboration of spaghetti allows the enrichment of the final product in soluble fibre (betaglucans) as well as in catechin-derived antioxidant compounds.

 

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